Aura Minerals Reports Preliminary Fourth Quarter Operational Results and 2013 Guidance
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/22/13 -- Aura Minerals Inc. ("Aura Minerals" or the "Company") (TSX: ORA) is pleased to announce preliminary 2012 fourth quarter and full year production results and guidance for 2013 production and capital expenditure. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.
Preliminary Operating Results - 2012
The Company produced 49,472 ounces ("oz") of gold in the fourth quarter ("Q4") of 2012, representing a 13% increase over 43,863 oz gold produced in Q4 2011 and a 15% increase over the third quarter ("Q3") 2012 gold production of 43,059 oz.
In 2012, Aura Minerals produced 172,479 oz of gold, representing an 8% increase over 160,159 oz produced in 2011. Full year gold production for 2012 was in line with originally provided guidance for 2012 and at the higher end of the range updated in Q3 2012.
Aura Minerals' full year 2012 preliminary gold production per mine is as follows:
Gold Mines - Preliminary
Production Q4 Oz Produced(1) 2012 Oz Production(1)
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San Andres Mine 11,936 59,751
Sao Francisco Mine 28,584 79,573
Sao Vicente Mine 8,952 33,155
Total 49,472 172,479
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(1) Subject to change until 2012 audited annual financial statements are
filed with regulatory authorities.
The Company's Aranzazu Mine produced 2,044,000 pounds ("lb") of contained copper in Q4 2012, as compared to 2,856,500 lb of contained copper in Q4 2011 and 2,450,800 lb of contained copper in Q3 2012. In 2012, Aranzazu produced 10,801,000 lb of contained copper, representing a 40% increase over the 7,695,300 lb of contained copper produced in 2011.
Production and Capital Expenditure Guidance - 2013
The Company announces the following production and cash cost per oz(2) guidance for the 2013 calendar year:
Gold Mines - 2013 Cash Cost per oz(2) 2013 Production
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San Andres Mine $1,000 - $1,150 60,000 - 65,000 oz
Sao Francisco Mine $1,100 - $1,250 78,000 - 88,000 oz
Sao Vicente Mine $ 950 - $1,100 28,000 - 32,000 oz
Total $1,050 - $1,200 166,000 - 185,000 oz
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(2) A cautionary note regarding non-GAAP measures is included at the end of
this press release.
Aranzazu's production for 2013 is expected to be between 13,000,000 and 15,000,000 lb of copper at a range of $3.10 to $3.60 cash cost per payable lb(2) of copper.
For 2013, capital spending is expected to be $101M. Of this amount, $53M relates to growth and sustaining capital for existing mines - including $36M on the Aranzazu expansion and roaster installation and $7M on Phase V of the heap leach expansion and community expenditures at San Andres. The remaining $48M relates to the development of the Serrote da Laje ("Serrote") Project in Brazil.
The Company is currently optimizing the Sao Francisco mine plan in order to maximize the remaining cash flows. It is anticipated that, with current information available, mining activity at Sao Francisco will cease in late 2013 and mine closure in the first half of 2014. The Company will provide additional details as they become available. Sao Vicente's mining activity will cease in mid-2013 and its mine closure is scheduled for early 2014.
The disclosure of technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Bruce Butcher, P. Eng., Vice President, Technical Services, a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.
Non-GAAP Measures
This news release includes certain non-GAAP performance measures, in particular, the average cash cost of gold per oz and average cash cost per payable pound of copper are non-GAAP performance measures. These non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning within IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company believes that these measures provide investors with additional information which is useful in evaluating the Company's performance and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.
Average cash costs per oz of gold or per payable pound of copper are presented as they represent an industry standard method of comparing certain costs on a per unit basis. Total cash costs of gold produced include on-site mining, processing and administration costs, off-site refining and royalty charges, reduced by silver by-product credits, but exclude amortization, reclamation, and exploration costs, as well as capital expenditures. Total cash costs of gold produced are divided by oz produced to arrive at per oz cash costs. Similarly, total cash costs of copper produced include the above costs, and are net of gold and silver by-products, but include offsite treatment and refining charges. Total cash costs of copper produced are divided by payable pounds of copper produced to arrive at per payable pound cash costs.
About Aura Minerals Inc.
Aura Minerals is a Canadian mid-tier gold and copper production company focused on the exploration, development and operation of gold and base metal projects in the Americas. The Company's producing assets include the San Andres gold mine in Honduras, the Sao Francisco and Sao Vicente gold mines in Brazil and the copper-gold-silver Aranzazu mine in Mexico. The Company's core development asset is the copper-gold-iron Serrote project in Brazil. Activities to date on the Serrote project include detailed negotiations for debt and equity financing, a geotechnical drill program, the engineering has been awarded and the Company has commenced advancing with early procurement. The Company also has the Inaja Greenstone Belt project currently optioned to Vale.
For further information, please visit Aura Minerals' web site at www.auraminerals.com.
Cautionary Note
This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements", as defined in applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the Company's current estimates, predictions, expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, without limitation, statements with respect to: Q4 and 2012 full year production, 2013 production and capital expenditure guidance and the optimization of the Sao Francisco mine plan. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements in this news release are based upon, without limitation, the following estimates and assumptions: the presence of and continuity of metals at the Company's Mines at modeled grades; the capacities of various machinery and equipment; the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices; exchange rates; metals and minerals sales prices; appropriate discount rates; tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the mining operations; cash costs; anticipated mining losses and dilution; metals recovery rates, reasonable contingency requirements; and receipt of regulatory approvals on acceptable terms.
Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to predict or control, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Specific reference is made to the most recent Annual Information Form on file with certain Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities for a discussion of some of the factors underlying forward-looking statements, which include, without limitation, gold and copper or certain other commodity price volatility, changes in debt and equity markets, the uncertainties involved in interpreting geological data, increases in costs, environmental compliance and changes in environmental legislation and regulation, interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations, general economic conditions and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the forward-looking statements.
All forward-looking statements herein are qualified by this cautionary statement. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. If the Company does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
Aura Minerals Inc.
Alex Penha
Vice President, Corporate Development
(604) 669-4777
(604) 696-0212 (FAX)
info@auraminerals.com
www.auraminerals.com